Cardiac sarcoidosis is an inflammatory disease that can adversely affect heart function. Previous FDG-PET/CT studies have shown how inflammatory cardiac sarcoidosis can result in an increased risk for sudden cardiac death and onset of heart failure.
"The goal of this project is to use quantitative perfusion information gained with PET/CT to learn more about the effects of sarcoidosis on the myocardium," presenter Dr. Matthew Kruse, a radiology resident at Johns Hopkins, explained to AuntMinnie.com.
Kruse and colleagues evaluated 13 patients who had evidence of cardiac sarcoidosis. The subjects received more than 30 total baseline and follow-up cardiac PET/CT scans.
Myocardial segments affected by active sarcoidosis had abnormal FDG activity and demonstrated decreased myocardial blood flow and myocardial flow reserve. This is "indicative of regional microvascular dysfunction that may reflect a basis for increased cardiovascular risk," the authors wrote.
The preliminary results have the "potential to help determine which patients with cardiac sarcoidosis will benefit from more- or less-intensive immunosuppressive therapy," Kruse said. "Cardiac PET/CT is ideal for this application, as the only modality offering both metabolic assessment (with FDG) and quantitative perfusion assessment with nitrogen-13 ammonia or rubidium-82 of the myocardium."
